China and the US have announced a major agreement to slash tariffs on electronic goods around the world, bringing a successful close to what had become a major test of the world’s two biggest economies’ ability to negotiate trade agreements.
中美两国宣布达成了一项意义重大的协议，同意大幅削减全球各地电子产品的关税，给两国长期的贸易谈判划上了成功的句号，两国能否达成贸易协议已经成为对全球两大经济体能力的重大考验。
The deal unveiled in Beijing on Tuesday ends an almost 18-month stand-off that had frozen negotiations among more than 50 countries to update the 1996 Information Technology Agreement.
周二在北京宣布的协议，结束了一场将近18个月的僵持。这场僵持曾导致50多个国家旨在修订1996年《信息技术协议》(Information Technology Agreement,ITA)的谈判被冻结。Speaking in Beijing president Barack Obama said the US and China have reached an “understanding” on expanding the pact that “will contribute to a rapid conclusion to the broader negotiations in Geneva”.
美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)在北京表示，美中两国已在扩大ITA协议问题上达成“谅解”，此举“将有利于在日内瓦举行的更广范围谈判快速完成”。
The agreement has yet to be signed off by other countries involved in the ITA talks, which have been taking place within the World Trade Organisation. That approval is expected to come within weeks, although the US-China deal does not cover flatscreen televisions or monitors which may prove a further irritation for big producers such as Japan and South Korea.
该协议还需要得到ITA谈判的其他参与国的签字，此前ITA谈判一直在世贸组织(WTA)框架内进行。预计该协议在未来几周内将获得批准，不过，美中协议范围不包括平板电视。这可能引起日本、韩国等平板电视生产大国的更大不满。Once implemented the ITA update will substantially lower tariffs and liberalise the trade in more than 250 categories of high-tech products ranging from wireless headsets to new semiconductors and medical devices.
一旦执行之后，新版ITA将大幅降低关税，使得逾250个种类的高科技产品——从无线耳麦到新型半导体和医疗设备——能够自由贸易。Beijing drastically reduced its list of excluded products to a few dozen earlier this year. The discussions with the US in recent weeks focused on fewer than 10 product categories including next-generation semiconductors, sophisticated measurement tools used in manufacturing and point-of-sale cards for downloading electronic games and other software.
今年，中国方面大幅缩短了例外产品清单的长度，减少到几十种。最近几周与美国的谈判集中于不到10个产品类别，包括下一代半导体、加工中使用的先进测量工具，以及用于下载电子游戏等软件的POS机点卡。As recently as last week US officials were expressing frustration with China. But over the past few days discussions resumed in Beijing and by Monday the two sides were exchanging final texts and translations of an agreement.
就在最近的上周，美国官员对中国表示了失望。但过去几天里，谈判在北京重启，到周一双方就在交换一项协议的最终文本和翻译版了。The only late outstanding issue came over whether to announce the deal on Tuesday as part of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit or during a state visit on Wednesday by President Barack Obama.
唯一悬而未决的问题是这一协议该如何宣布——是作为周二在亚太经合组织(APEC)峰会成果，还是在美国总统于周三举行的国事访问时宣布。